The present invention relates to coating compositios for wood surfaces and more particularly to waterborne stain compositions.
Clear sealants and semi-transparent stains for exterior application to wood surfaces have traditionally been formed as oil-based systems having inherent good application and appearance characteristics, with marginal or poor durability. These coatings, however, may exceed regulatory permissible amounts of volatile organic component.
Because of such limitations on volatile organic component waterborne stains have become increasingly important. Such waterborne stains are often formulated from water reducible resins, including alkyds and maleinized linseed oils and commonly employ glycol ethers as coupling solvents in combination with alkaline neutralizers to assure solubility of the resin component in water. In addition, acrylic and vinyl acrylic polymers prepared by emulsion polymerization have also been used in formulating waterborne emulsion stains. While such waterborne stains may have slightly better durability than oil-based systems, they generally compare unfavorably with such oil-bases systems in their application and appearance characteristics.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a waterborne acrylic coating composition which has improved application and appearance characteristics and which provides improved protection for the wood surface after application.